How to Create Characters Your Readers Will Love!

If your reader doesn’t care, they won’t continue reading. So how do we create engaging characters? One of the best ways is to add something your characters loves — perhaps it’s an animal, a child, or an object.

It’s often said that no character is all good or all bad. Give the bad guy in your story a dog. Create a scene where he shows a particular kindness to the animal, even if it’s a kindness he would never show to a human. A woman who loves a child doesn’t seem as evil when she steals money from the collection plate at church. A character who strokes a watch fob of his dead sister’s hair suddenly feels more alive.

Give your characters something to love and you will create a bond with the reader, a bond that causes them to keep turning the pages. It just might be what your story is missing.

P.S. I have three spots available in the 3rd annual “Writing in the Garden” workshop scheduled for next Tuesday in Baxter, Minnesota. If you are interested in attending, email me or comment below and I will send you all the information. We’ll be talking about writing without cliches. For the first time, my sister Candace Simar will be co-teaching. We are so excited!